


A Wrong Kind of Space

by Megan



Category: Persona 2
Genre: Branding, Canon Queer Relationship, Community: kink_bingo, M/M, Mindfuck, Nightmares, Possession, Punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-13
Updated: 2011-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-20 09:46:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megan/pseuds/Megan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remembering is the worst part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wrong Kind of Space

**Author's Note:**

> Technically there's no sex here, but the implications it's something Nyarlathotep has done before are strong enough I feel the non-con warning is appropriate.

Tatsuya hasn't had a good night's sleep since the night he woke up and remembered a life that shouldn't have happened, people he's never met (but they're people he knows, people he loves more than anything in the world). It had been the memory that started to wake him up, but the searing pain crawling up his arm that had finished the job. That _hadn't_ been part of any nightmare, because the black mark winding its way up from his hand in a rush of agony was real. It had still been there when he woke up in the morning ( _you'll have to skip phys ed, of course, what would anyone say if they saw that mark?_ and at least skipping class comes easier now that he remembers how often he's done it in the life that shouldn't exist), and it's been there ever since.

"You've already lost," _it_ whispers, like he has every night since Tatsuya remembered. His breath crawls tangibly down Tatsuya's neck and slithers down his back, cold as the shadow on Tatsuya's arm is hot but every bit as painful. "All I have to do is wait for one of the others to remember, and everything ends."

 _They won't_ , he'd said the first time, before he'd learned that arguing only makes the crawling chaos stronger, makes things worse when Nyarlathotep's heavy, chilling weight settles onto his back and takes its prize even though the game isn't won yet.

"I liked it better when you'd fight," it breathes against his ear, chill breath that never came from anything alive. "You're used to me like this, aren't you? If you don't like it anymore, I can always be someone else."

It's been so many people in the weeks since Tatsuya remembered and these nightmares— visits, because they're real, they're horrible and real— that he's not sure what's left. It's been Kashihara and it's been Tatsuya's own shadow, it's been Prince Taurus and King Leo ( _wouldn't you like it if I lit the bed on fire? You liked fire well enough when you took out my eye, you son of a bitch_ ) and a man whose voice Tatsuya remembers from the news a couple of years ago. It's been almost everyone under Nyarlathotep's spell, except for—

"I know," it says, the soft words suddenly gone lighter, higher. The hands hooked in the waistband of his sweatpants are small, smooth, with even nails and no calluses. "Do you like me now, _Tacchi?_ "

" _No_ ," Tatsuya manages to say, face half-buried in the pillow so he doesn't have to look. " _You can't._ "

"I _knew_ you'd like this one," it says in Jun's voice, and then it laughs Jun's laugh, small and bubbling and a little bit hysterical. "I'm good at his face— I had _years_ to study it, didn't I?"

" _Stop it_ ," Tatsuya can't help but choke out, even though he knows it's the absolutely wrong thing to say. " _Not him_."

"You had your chance," it says, and sinks its small, sharp teeth into Tatsuya's shoulder. "And you threw it away. If you can't stop being a selfish little bitch for the sake of everyone else, why should the rest of humanity be any different? Why should your friends? I bet this one cracks first— he's so easy to whisper to."

 _Leave him alone_ , Tatsuya doesn't argue aloud, because he's too busy biting the pillow to keep from _screaming_ at the acid pain of the bite to his shoulder. Whatever Nyarlathotep really is, it was never meant to touch humans. _Leave them all alone, they didn't fail like I did— they did what they were supposed to do—_

"As soon as one of them remembers, this will all be over," it murmurs, voice gone soft in a sickeningly familiar way that should be coming from his boyfriend, not from a monster wearing his boyfriend's face. "I can't come in and do this to you when you're all dead. And look at how terrible the world is— it's better off gone. You can help that happen sooner, put everyone out of their misery. Just find one of them, make them remember."

" _No_ ," he says, and then it's gone. The pain in his shoulder is already fading, but his brand still hurts— it'll still be throbbing in the morning when he wakes up, never really going away. Then again, maybe it's better that way— he _does_ deserve this, even if agreeing with Nyarlathotep makes him want to vomit. And it's a reminder of what he has to do, which is keep anyone else from remembering what happened the way he has— no matter how much he wants them back.

Tatsuya puts the pillow over his head, but he already knows he won't be falling asleep again tonight.


End file.
